Virtual Worlds

In coordination with the Virtual Worlds Hot Topic Discussion at lsat years EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, a group was starting in Second Life.  That group had its first meeting on Monday, June 9th.  Following is the edited transcript of that meeting (edited for clarity and readability).

If you are in Second Life, please join the group EDUCAUSE VIRTUAL WORLDS or contact AJ Brooks in world for an invite.

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The island of Sophia in Second Life now features an immersive depiction of the flight deck of the NASA Space Shuttle (actually, it's the high fidelity mockup at Johnson Space center in Houston). This is a visual representation only - the controls don't work - but it is a compelling effect. The display uses a Virtual Reality Room (VRR), an immersive, photo-realistic environment developed through a partnership between the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Info Island Archipelago, the Commonwealth Islands for not-for-profits, and Stephane Desnault (aka Stephane Zugzwang in SL).

In this 31 minute podcast we feature a conversation from the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting. The topic is Second Life and virtual worlds. How can virtual world participation help students become active learners? How can instructors approach virtual worlds with an eye toward their own curriculum. Are there any privacy or safety issues that must be breached in getting your students on Second Life? Particpants in this discussion include:

On this podcast we feature a plenary session from the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting. The presenter is Sarah Smith Robbins, PhD Candidate, Ball State University, with a topic entitled, "Virtual Worlds as Web 2.0 Learning Spaces".

Virtual worlds such as Second Life offer powerful teaching and learning opportunities by integrating participatory, social, and immersive media for student-centered learning. Learn about Second Life, its use as a learning space, and its predictive role in the future of learning.

The full program is now available for the ELI 2008 Spring Focus Session, "Real-World and Technology Rich: Learning by Doing, Learning in Context," being held March 18–19 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Register by February 19 to save money with low, early-bird rates.

Some of the featured sessions and speakers will include:

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet Mark Childs from Warwick, in the context of his short visit to CARET. Over an informal lunch, a bunch of CARET researchers and learning technologists battered Mark with questions about his work on interesting projects such as DIVERSE (developing video resources for students) and his PhD research on Learners' Experiences of Mediated Environments.

We had a very enjoyable group discussion around the issues and challenges associated with researching learning in relation to students' lived experiences, and how patterns of learning and student behaviours alike are increasingly mediated by technology. Mark had a lot of stories to share, particularly in relation to using qualitative methods, and the challenges posed by researching learning in mediated environments. He is especially interested in issues associated with "presence" in virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Thanks to Mark for his time and input!

Attached is a very brief overview of a project to be presented in a poster session at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting. If you would like more information after listening, please see the poster session page, visit the home page of Notre Dame's faculty learning community on virtual worlds. or go to the island of Sophia in Second Lfe.

In this 15 minute podcast, we feature an interview with Julian Lombardi, Assistant Vice President at Duke University and Executive Director of the Open Croquet Consortium. Croquet is a powerful new open source software development environment and software infrastructure for creating and deploying deeply collaborative multi-user online applications and metaverses on and across multiple operating systems and devices.

In this 21 minute podcast, we feature an interview with Ulrich Rauch, Director of Arts Instructional Support & Information Technology at The University of British Columbia. He has recently been involved in a project called Ancient Spaces at UBC, which uses gaming and virtual world technology to recreate locations from antiquity. He also participated in a session at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference entitled, "Indigenous Cultures: From Observing to Experiencing, from Videography to 3D VR Immersion".

Ulrich Rauch organizes the implementation of educational technologies for instructors, students and staff in the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia. As the director of a technical and an instructional support unit, and as trained sociologist, Ulrich combines his experience as an instructor with his perspective on learning technologies to research and apply e-learning strategies in support of collaborative learning.

EDUCAUSE invites subscribers to join two new constituent groups: IT Communications, led by Mur Muchane and Lisa Trubitt, and Virtual Worlds, led by AJ Kelton. Browse the full list of constituent and discussion groups at EDUCAUSE.